Board Policy CA-270: Attendance at Meetings of the Board of Directors and its Committees

Effective date: 2022-06-21

Purpose

Ensure that the members of the Board and its committees fulfill their fiduciary responsibility by attending the meetings of the Board and its committees.

Application

This policy applies to the elected and appointed members of the Board and its committees. 

Board members must supervise the organization’s affairs with care and attention. This means that they must remain attentive, attend meetings and strive to exercise good judgment and take reasonable measures to manage the risks that the organization may face.

Policy

In principle, the members of the Board and its committees must attend all meetings. It may occur that a member of the Board is unable to attend certain meetings due to unforeseen commitments or circumstances. A 75 percent attendance rate is mandatory.

Procedure

Where a voting member of the Board fails to attend 75 percent of the meetings of the Board or one of its committees within a 12-month period or is absent from three consecutive meetings of the Board or of a committee, the member will be deemed to have resigned.

A member’s attendance record must be considered when deciding whether to reappoint the member to the Board or appoint the member to a committee. 

If a member of the Board or one of its committees is an ex officio member of the Board, the Chairperson may discuss the member’s attendance with the organization’s President and CEO to take steps in order to correct the situation before the member reaches the minimum required attendance threshold.